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Tuesday, March 19, 2024
The Observer

Belles fall below .500 with loss

Bridget Lipke was not going down without a fight.The Saint Mary's sophomore point guard dove on the floor for a lose ball, charged down the court, scrambled for her own rebound and drew a foul all in about a 10 second span of the second half of Wednesday night's contest against the Albion Britons at the Angela Athletic Center.In the end, Lipke's hustle went unrewarded, as the Belles fought gallantly but were overpowered by the bigger, faster, and fresher Britons, 72-59.Saint Mary's (9-10, 4-6 in the MIAA) had only one day to rest after a 93-87 win over Tri-State on Monday, a fact that Albion coach Doreen Balkowski was well aware of when designing the Briton's game plan."[They] knew we played Tri-State on Monday, a team that likes to run, so [they] ran us," Belles coach Suzanne Bellina said. "Usually they walk the ball up, but they were running it up every time."The Belles will get a much needed rest this weekend before playing Calvin in Grand Rapids next week."I think we were exhausted [against Albion]," Bellina said. "We have a bye this weekend, which we really need."The Britons also effectively used their bench. Eleven different players put tallies in the scoring ledger.Albion played a zone defense for most of the game, making use of their size advantage and holding Lipke and fellow guard Alison Kessler to only five points combined. "A lot of Albion's players are bigger than us, so it's hard to get a shot over them," Bellina said. One bright spot for the Belles was the continued improvement of Maureen Bush. Bush, who scored a career-high 31 points against Tri-State, led all scorers with 15 points."She has so much confidence from the Tri-State game. She's a force inside," Bellina said of the 6-foot-0 forward.Emily Creachbaum and MIAA Player of the Week Bridget Boyce each contributed 14 points for the Belles.Point guard Sarah Caskey, who scored 13, and forwards Liz Marcus and Jessica Babcock, who tallied 10 each, led the Britons.

ALBION 72, ST. MARY'S 59at the ANGELA ATHLETIC CENTER ST. MARY'S (9-10, 4-6)Lipke 0-4 1-2 1, Kessler 1-4 3-4 4, Mullen 1-4 1-2 3, Boyce 6-15, 0-0 14, Bush 6-13 3-4 13, Creachbaum 6-16, 2-2, 14, Malone 0-1 1-2 1, Mangan 1-3 4-4 6, Baum 0-0 0-0 0

ALBION (4-1, 0-0)Fornett 3-5 1-2 8, Matthew 0-0 2-2 2, Glynn 2-5 1-3 5, Marcuz 3-4 4-7 10, Guimond 0-0 0-0 0, Thompson 1-4 2-3 4, Babcock 4-5 0-1 10, Caskey 4-14 4-4 13, Meyer 2-3 1-2 5, Sventicus 2-3, 0-0 4, Garvery 0-0 0-0 0, Till 2-6, 0-0 5, Jenema, 0-2 0-0 0, Elder 2-3 2-2 6

1st 2nd TotalABLION 35 37 72 ST. MARY'S 29 30 59

3-point goals: St. Mary's 2-7 (Creachbaum 0-1, Malone 0-1, Boyce 2-5), Albion 6-12 (Fornetti 1-1, Caskey 1-4 Glynn 1-3, Babcock 2-3, Till 1-1). Fouled out: None. Rebounds: St. Mary's 37 (Creachbaum 7, Boyce 7, Bush 7), Albion 37 (Marcuz 10). Assists: St. Mary's 15 (Likpe 5), Albion 13 (Caskey 5). Total fouls: St. Mary's 21, Albion 17.